Planning Out an Epic Kayak Camping Tripin theNorth Cascades

For about a few months now Tim and I have been planning out our next adventure together. Our wives and family have been great about allowing us time for some side trips where we get to bond and recharge. Most recently we did a spring training vacation in Arizona. This time we didn't know whether we wanted to do a backpacking trip or try bike camping trip or maybe a kayaking camping adventure. We decided to give that last one a try. Our initial plans were heavily revolved around kayaking in the Puget Sound around the San Juan Islands. A couple of years ago our families had an amazing time in the San Juans. We stayed at the Beach Haven Resort on Orcas Island.

However, after reading a lot of scary stories about inexperienced paddlers nearly dying and requiring Coast Guard intervention, I thought that maybe open sea kayaking would be the next adventure on our list and that we'd need an easier kayak camping itinerary - one that didn't require an understanding of tidal patterns and cold water rescue techniques (but I do still want to do a trip to Cypress Island when we are more experienced!)

Well, my family just had a very brief but wonderful time at Diablo Lake in the North Cascade National Park. It was full of jaw dropping beauty and Diablo Lake was stunning. I noticed a lot of canoes and kayaks on the frigid lake (this lake is fed with glacial runoff) and many of them were packed up for camping. So later on I did some research to find that they were likely heading from Diablo Lake to Ross Lake, a 23 mile long lake that reaches all the way up to Canada. And my research also revealed that this was a wonderful kayak camping option for novices. I excitedly messaged Tim about this plan and he's on board too!

We're now in the planning stages and thankfully Tim has done some longer backpacking trips (most recently Half Dome in Yosemite) and he had a good idea of how to start. We've got a shared Google doc going now and we're going to have a good idea of who needs to bring what. We're getting some of these awesome looking Flip Reels to try out on the trip too! With space being at a premium these things look like just what we need.

This trip is in a month from now so keep an eye out for the post about how it went. Not going to lie but my expectations are very high. We're shooting for "adventure of a lifetime" but I'm willing to settle for "epic trip with best buddy". Also, if this trip is as awesome and manageable as it seems, we might look to bring both of our families next time. But for now it is two dads recharging and getting away from it all (very important part of being the best dad you can be!) Adventure is out there and we are stoked!